'If you make happiness your goal, then you're not going to get to it… The goal should be an interesting life."

Dorothy Rowe

Sunday, 8 March 2009

It's been a funny old day ...

weather wise - and in terms of what I've done - or not done.

We woke to a beautiful sunny day - but mid afternoon, just when Wensleydale was on his way to the post box - it hailed. And now it's clear again, though still cold. But the sunshine has brought out a few blossoms on the cherry tree, so perhaps spring is on its way.

I spent the day [apart from cooking] making a background for an experimental piece. The last time I had an insomniac night, I began to wonder why so many of my embroideries end up with a backing of wadding or felt. The tile piece has wadding, the not-landscapes have wadding, and of course the mini quilts have wadding - apart from the 'Around the World in 20 Quilts' quilt - which hasn't. Just denim, newspaper and net.

But in general I have a definite tendency to pad things out . This is a piece of transfer dyeing which I backed with felt in an attempt to make it stiff enough for a book cover. [In real life it doesn't look spotty like it does in the photo.]Of course, I could have used Vilene but I wanted a soft surface, with some drape. I've got the softness and drape but it isn't really stiff enough for my purpose. As usual. I digress. I decided I wanted to explore embroidery on a padded surface a bit more. And then I picked up the current issue of 'Quilting Arts' and found Laura Wasilowski's article on hand stitching on quilts. Mmm - interesting - but I don't want to work on pieced quilts, I want to work on wholecloth pieces.So I pieced a quilt. Only a little one, a bit of 'Liberated Piecing' which I can play around with. It wasn't what I intended to do, I was going to find a piece of hand dye and some wadding - but somehow these bits of blue and white fabric insisted on being sewn together. No photo at the moment but you may see it - or rather them, I ended up with two - I decided the first bit was too big but the bit I cut off was a piece in its own right.Here is today's colour photo - my knock-off of Georgia O'Keeffe. I could tell you that it was deliberately taken out of focus - but I would be lying. I just got in too close for my little Canon. But I like the result, and I love the colours.

The photo is of an amaryllis I grew this year - one of the few things I can grow without killing them and they are so wonderfully OTT.